BRAZILIAN GOVERNMENT DISCUSSES CHINESE SAFEGUARD FOR SUGAR

On December 18th and 19th, the Brazilian government held consultations at the World Trade Organization with China on the safeguard applied by this country to imports of Brazilian sugar. During this period, the Executive Director of the Sugar Cane Industry Union (UNICA), Eduardo Leão de Sousa, and the Senior International advisor of the organization, Géraldine Kutas, were also present to support the government. Brazil decided to request consultations in October, after Brazil’s numerous efforts with the Chinese government and UNICA itself with the Asian private sector, which did not lead to proposals for possible solutions. During the consultation meetings the Chinese were open to providing further explanations of how their import system worked. “From the reports of the Brazilian government, it seemed to us that the final outcome of the meetings was positive as Brazil and China agreed to meet again at the beginning of next year and to try to reach a consensual solution to this case. We think an agreement is always preferable to a panel. However, if there is no progress, the way should be to use the WTO dispute settlement mechanism, “explains Eduardo Leão. In September of this year, the Foreign Trade Chamber (CAMEX) consulted the WTO challenging China’s policy on the product. This is the first step in opening the litigation motivated by a measure adopted in May 2017, whereby the 45% surcharge on imports of Brazilian sugar, above the 50% tariff previously practiced. As a result, Brazilian exports to that country plunged approximately 87%, from 2.4 million tons in 2016 to only 300K tons in 2017.
Source: Unica